John Swinney
Perthshire North
Born in Edinburgh in 1964, John graduated with MA Honours Politics from Edinburgh University.
He joined the SNP in 1979, and has over his many years of service to the party held a number of posts at both a local and national level. In 1997 he was elected MP for North Tayside and MSP in 1999, remaining as both MSP and MP until 2001. He has served the people of Perthshire North since the opening of the Scottish Parliament, having been re-elected at every single election.
In 1998 he became the SNP’s Deputy Leader and then in 2000, John was elected SNP Leader and became the Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament.
He stood down as SNP Leader in 2004, later becoming Finance Secretary in the first SNP Government after the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections. John would become the longest serving Finance Secretary in the history of the Scottish Parliament before going on to become Deputy First Minister to Nicola Sturgeon in 2014.
In 2024, John was elected unanimously to be SNP Leader, and then elected by the Scottish Parliament to serve as Scotland’s seventh First Minister.
John is married to television reporter Elizabeth Quigley and has three children. He lives near Blairgowrie, in his Perthshire North constituency and in his leisure time, enjoys hill walking and cycling.